The Vote Chronicles: First Round

After almost three weeks of submissions, we have come to the First Round of the Vote Chronicles. A total of 32 entries were submitted, 5 were disqualified for breaking the rules or not meeting the criteria of the contest. 27 entries in all have been posted on the front page of the site for popular post views and comments.

So what are the next steps?

- If you entered for the contest, you can send the word out that you’re participating to your friends so as to get as many views as you can. We have the social bar at the bottom of the site to help you do this.
- If you’re not taking part, read all the posts and decide on your favorite. Like and Tweet them to your social channels to increase their chances of going to the next round.

The posts will be up for a week, and at the end of the first round, 9 of all the entries will be selected based on Page Views.

The Naija Stories Editors will also be reading and for the second round, they will select their top 9 stories, making it a total of 18 stories to get to the third round for the judges comments.

Good luck to everyone!

PS: No new stories will be posted in the following week, and we ask that you bear with us for the sake of the contest.

______________________________________

The Nigerian general elections are around the corner. The registration exercise has just been completed, and the candidates from the various parties are crisscrossing the nation, campaigning for the votes of the Nigerian electorate. A lot of media attention is being given to the event, and this underscores how important the process of making a choice is, whether at a national level, or even in our individual lives.

So Naija Stories is launching a writing contest called “The Vote Chronicles”. The competition will be centred on the theme of people making - or not making - choices or casting votes, and the process through which they go about doing this. It is our belief that telling and broadcasting stories on this theme will promote a debate about the process itself, and how it is viewed specifically in Nigeria. We also hope it will raise awareness about the April elections, and encourage more people to go out and vote.

Contest Guidelines:

1. Register at Naijastories.com and log in. Then click on the ‘Submit and Edit Stories’ link to the left of the page in the ‘Communities’ section. This will take you to an ‘Edit Posts’ page.

2. Click on the ‘Add New’ button at the top of this page – this will take you to an ‘Add New Post’ page.

3. In the field at the top of the page, enter a title that defines your entry.

4. In the body of the post, put in your entry. All stories must be original and not previously published, and no political essays or commentaries please.

5. Your entry should be a maximum of 600 words.

6. It must be a short story which has as its central theme, the making of choices, or the casting of votes.

7. The contest is open only to members of Naija Stories who have at least 200 points.

8. Put the entry in the category of “The Vote Chronicles” and press the button, “Submit for Review”.

9. All entries that meet the requirements will be published after the submission period.

Dates for Contest:

The contest opens today Monday, March 7th and submissions end on Friday, March 25th.

First round: Posts are put up March 26th for the PostViews top 9 selection by April 2nd

Second round: Naija Stories Editors select 9 more stories - Editor’s Picks by April 4th

Third round: Selected Judges review and determine the final top 10 stories by April 8th

Final round: Popular Voting – April 9th – April 16, 2011

The winner will be announced by April 18th 2011.

Prizes :

First place winner – $150, and their story will be linked on the Front Page of the website.
Second place winner – $100, and their story will be linked on the Front Page of the website.
Third Place winner – $50, and their story will be linked on the Front Page of the website.

Contest Procedure:

To make this an all inclusive contest, the Vote Chronicles contest will primarily involve our readers/audience. The 4 stages for determining the winner are explained below;

First round: The top 10 submissions are selected based on PostViews. This means that those that can mobilise their fans and readers to view and comment on their story stand an improved chance of getting more page views.  Get ready to broadcast your entries to friends and colleagues to support you.

Second round: Naija Stories Editors select 10 more stories - Editor’s Picks The Naija Stories team will select the most suitable of the entries from those submitted. You just have to make sure that you stick to the contest guidelines. This is a contest but you’re also expected to treat it like a writing exercise.

Third round: Out of the chosen 20 stories, our selected Judges determine the final 10 with commentary on why they liked the stories. As I always say, you do not know who is reading. The Judges will be checking for creativity, relevance to the Vote Chronicles theme and clean use of the English language so polish your grammar and keep typos to a minimum please!

Final Round – Popular Voting: There will be a poll set up on NaijaStories.com to collect these votes. At this stage, all those who submitted stories for the contest can invite friends to vote for their entries. This final round will depend on the people who read the entries, and like it (or the writer) enough to come back on the poll day and vote.

Reminds you of the whole election process doesn’t it?

If you have any questions, please send a mail to [email protected].

Good Luck and Get Writing!